Shiro and Kuro Akao
'Shiro Akao '(アカオ・シロ, Akao Shiro '') and '''Kuro Akao '(アカオ・クロ, Akao Kuro) are two swabbies and the two Rooks of the Checkmate Pirates. They are twins, and in fact the same person. This is due to their mutual power, gained from eating the Kiha Kiha no Mi . Appearance The two are a pair of twins, opposite in most ways. Shiro is the boy, an energetic blond with a red and white theme in his clothes. Shiro looks very casual. He wears a red t-shirt, a little too big for his size, and white pants which he constantly gets dirty and tears. Kuro is the opposite, a girl with a more gothic blue and black theme. Her hair is long and black, and she wears a puffy dark blue dress. She occasionally carries around some of Hina's dolls. Personality Predictably, Shiro and Kuro are the opposite, being extremely emotional on either end of the spectrum. Shiro is quick to anger or become excited, loud, energetic, and generally very upbeat. He's not all that intelligent, but very fast and strong. Kuro is much quieter and an introvert. She shuffles along, only moving quickly when she has to chase after Shiro. While Shiro has sweeping moods, Kuro on the other hand is conspicuous in her absence of outward expression. She's a bit of a downer, moping around often. She's not very strong, but very smart. She only really cheers up when she's around Shiro. Despite her sluggishness, she can be spurred into action by Shiro's encouragement, so it is not unusual to see the pair running all over the ship. Relationships Crew The two of them are quite young, and they are just little kids on the crew. The rest of the crew can't help but enjoy their playful antics, despite them getting underfoot at times. There is great curiosity among the crew as to their original form, which is seen very infrequently. Arthur discourages their reunion, because then the crew only has one Rook. Faust Although one might think that two young children would be fairly incompatible with a strange, unearthly slime creature who takes himself very seriously, the three of them get along quite well. Kuro engages Faust with intellectual conversation and philosophy, while Shiro plays around in his jelly body (until Shiro touches the Kairoseki bowl and becomes immobilized.) Rayden Initially the two kids were very surprised and timid around Rayden, given his snakelike body and general scariness. He found this amusing, and still keeps up this persona occasionally. As with Faust, the two are always interested in seeing what Rayden is up to, and he enjoys their reactions toward his latest inventions. Hina Despite Mel being older, Hina is the more motherly figure toward the two young ones as Mel is usually busy elsewhere, and Hina is the one who makes sweets and tasty things. Her music and the dolls she creates are of great interest to Kuro, who often carries around little straw dolls made by Hina. Hina enjoys their company, as their natural innocence is like the joy she wants the whole world to feel. Abilities They have the powers of the Kiha Kiha no Mi , and in addition they each carry a half of a sword. The original sword was a long sword which curled around itself in a jagged, angular double helix pattern. It was split into two matching, single helix swords. Shiro and Kuro are not excellent swordsmen, especially with such a strange sword each, but they can use their powers in their own way with surprising results. Devil Fruit As an original form, Shiro and Kuro were named 'Haiiro Murasaki '(ムラサキ・ハイーロ, Murasaki Haiiro). He was fairly powerful, but he did not excel. He practiced zen teachings and came to an understanding that although it was weakness that limited his strength, any weakness can become strength. Thus, he did not wish to rid himself of weakness, only capitalize on it. Nothing cannot be used to ones own advantage. At some point on his travels, he ate the Kiha Kiha no Mi, which he found growing on the Red Line. Not long before joining the Checkmate Pirates, he found that his focus was lacking and he was incapable of using his powers to the fullest in his single form. He used his power to cut himself into two parts, each becoming a master of half of the art Haiiro had only begun to appreciate. Following the temporary disbandment of the Checkmate Pirates where each member engaged in individual training, Shiro trained with a stoic swordsman. Initially Shiro's hyperactive attitude was a poor match for any kind of training, but his teacher was impressed by Shiro's Devil Fruit power and Shiro was excited to become stronger. The two didn't share many close emotional moments and spent most of their time training, and Shiro learned how to extend the range of his cutting powers as well as choose things caught in his slashes not to cut. He finished his training improved in skill, but also with a greater appreciation of temperance and patience in his life. Following the temporary disbandment of the Checkmate Pirates where each member engaged in individual training, Kuro paid for education from an accomplished cartographer. Kuro had learned a little of navigation and cartography from Mel, but this was her first time seeing the map-making process in depth and from a master. Kuro became enamoured with how the combination of single units expressed on the map could come together to form the complexity of the world. This cartographer was also an expert in foretelling the weather, and explained to Kuro about the interplay of heat and cold in forming wind. Kuro came to realize that by using her power to stick together pockets of hot and cold air, going so far as to combine all the cold air into a tiny ball and leaving the air warm or vice versa, she could manipulate the winds and weather. History Formation of the Checkmate Pirates: The Checkmate Pirates came together on Hayward D. Rockefeller's home island of Deepwater Island. Haiiro was also a latecomer to the party along with Rayden. Haiiro had been trekking on the Red Line, and had moved down to the Sabaody Archipelago when he was unable to go further beyond Mariejois. Like Rayden, he overheard the news that there was an attack on the World Noble on Deepwater Island. Unlike Rayden, he only stowed away for his own interest, and the possibility of different answers to his questions in East Blue. He climbed onto the ship and secretly slipped into the control room, unmanned apart from Faust. He tried to lie to Faust and claim he was the Admiral but Faust was smarter than Haiiro gave him credit for, and sounded the alarm. Haiiro cut his way through the wall and fell onto Rayden. After introductions, Haiiro hid them by cutting into the deck. Later, after Rayden caused a scene the moment they landed, he and Haiiro fled into the forest along with Hina. Hina introduced them to Arthur's group, and joining forces they returned to the beach. Haiiro and Hina were faced with the task of fending off Admiral Calomel as they moved down the beach. Haiiro was doing well in slicing apart Calomel's streams, but he also had to fuse together the sand for Hina to make stone dolls out of. He couldn't do both at once, and he resorted to cutting his body in half to be in two places at once. It didn't work entirely as he had planned it would, and instead two smaller, very different versions of himself appeared. With their combined enhanced powers, the now three of them ran with the group to the docks. They later grouped together with the rest of the team, and for their foundation at the sides of the crew Arthur dubbed them the Rooks of the Checkmate Pirates. Trivia *Shiro and Kuro's names are all colors. Haiiro Murasaki means "gray, purple". Shiro and Kuro mean "white" and "black", while Akao is a fusion of aka and ao, meaning "red" and "blue". *Because of their tendency to do the opposite of one another, reverse psychology works wonders on the two of them (especially Shiro.) On their own they tend to be quite competitive with each other, but they side with each other against anyone else. *Shiro's favorite foods are things like chips and soda, while he hates vegetables. Kuro's favorite foods are things like cakes and tea, while she dislikes anything raw like sashimi. They never leave any food on their plates after meals, since each one will eat anything the other doesn't. *Shiro Akao and Kuro Akao (the characters) were created by me, Nettlekid. Category:Checkmate Pirates Category:Devil Fruit Users Category:Characters Category:Swabbie Category:Male Category:Pirates Category:Swordsmen Category:Female